


A Tree For Three

by menhir



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, M/M, Multi, for no reason in particular, small children think Tony is hilarious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 08:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9063328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/menhir/pseuds/menhir
Summary: Bucky and Steve convince Tony to take their winter holiday out of the city at the Stark manson. They need a Christmas tree, though, and Tony's never gotten a live one before. Fluff. One-hundred percent fluff.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For Nico

“If you wanted to cut your own tree, I have a flying suit of armor and precision lasers,” Tony griped, his complaints muffled as he tugged at his collar, trying to block out the chill. His scarf was expensive, but it was too thin to do any real good against the bitter cold. Plus he’d forgotten a hat and his ears were freezing. 

Steve and Bucky had kidnapped him and taken him out to the middle of nowhere. The light was fading crimson behind the black silhouette of the distant forest and—if it wasn’t for the fact they were gathered with a group of families outside a barn on a Christmas-tree farm in upstate New York—Tony would have been convinced his boyfriends had ushered him straight into a horror film. Apart from the murmur of conversation and laughing children, it was so _quiet._ No traffic. None of the ever-present hum of the city. Even the _birds_ were silent. Birds were supposed to be chirpy, right? 

A nearby field was planted with rows of conical pine trees, but there was a long track of rough, frozen mud between them and their goal. Also, no one seemed to be moving and Tony had no idea what they were waiting for. 

“I could have flown in here, wowed a few bystanders, gotten a tree, and brought it back to the mansion in no time flat,” Tony insisted. They'd had to drive more than an hour to get here as it was.

“Right,” Steve said, “and the tree would have been singed from the lasers and the needles would have blown off when you went supersonic on your way back.” He tugged Tony close and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, rubbing a hand up and down Tony’s sleeve to help him warm up. Super soldiers ran hot, so of course Steve was wearing nothing but a jacket and he was still perfectly comfortable. 

“Then I could have had a tree _delivered_ ,” Tony grumbled. “We could have been cozy by the fire, and let someone else do all the work.” 

“That takes all the fun out of it,” Bucky said, far too cheerful for a scruffy former-assassin. He’d borrowed a collapsible hand-saw from a worker in thick canvas coveralls and he looped the tool over his left arm as he tugged his gloves into place—less for warmth and more to protect from tree sap, or so he’d said. (That and Steve had insisted because Bucky liked to put his cold metal hand up the back of Steve’s shirt.) 

A toddler shrieked and came running in their direction, chased by her older sister. She was bundled in layers so thick she could barely bend her knees and elbows, and her limbs made a zipping, swishing sound whenever she moved. She stopped dead in front of the three men and looked up at them, wide-eyed. 

Steve smiled and waved, Bucky made a face, and Tony mouthed, _Help me. I’ve been kidnapped._

The little girl burst into giggles and then her sister scooped her up, arms around her belly, and waddle-carried her back to their parents. 

“Why are we just standing here?” Tony asked. It wasn’t a whine. It _wasn’t._   He just wanted to know and none of this waiting made any sense to him. Look, he may have been a genius, but so far none of this experience added up to heartwarming holiday fun. 

Well, the kids were cute. He’d give them that. But Tony was reasonably sure they were all waiting out here, unsuspecting, about to be devoured by some appropriately Christmas-themed alien hell-beast. 

A snort and a low, guttural growling came from far down the path and Tony jumped.  

He hated it when he was right. If he called for the suit now, he might still be able to save everyone—

“That’s what we’re waiting for,” Steve said, squeezing Tony’s shoulders to reassure him. 

A tractor lumbered out from behind the pines, pulling two large wagons hitched together. The first was lined with bales of hay, and families and couples were cuddled in together, enjoying the slow, creaky ride back to the barn. The second wagon was stacked with the individual trees everyone had selected and cut. 

The machinery grumbled and strained as the tractor made its way back to the barn. Tony cringed at the hammering of the engine while it idled and everyone offloaded. The tractor needed more than a tune up. Maybe a full rebuild. Tony could make the engine whisper quiet and outfit the machinery with a sound system to play holiday music. In fact, he was about to approach the driver when Steve pulled him into a tight hug, both arms securely around Tony’s shoulders. He murmured in Tony’s ear, “You don’t have to fix everything for everybody.” 

Tony huffed and hugged Steve back—but only because he was cold and Steve was warm. 

Before long, it was their turn to bundle onto the hayride. Steve and Bucky helped load up the kids from their group, who squealed like they were flying when they were swooped up. Tony's beaus offered a hand to any adults who wanted one, too, and more than a few accepted. The crowd was starting to catch on to the fact they had Avengers in their midst; though they were being surprisingly restrained about it. A few giggles and sly glances here and there. One young man was bold enough to grope Bucky’s left arm, trying to feel under his sleeve for the metal. Bucky raised an eyebrow and the man flushed and hurried over to his friends, who all talked excitedly amongst themselves, heads together. So far no one had pulled out their phones or asked for selfies. 

Well, give them time to work up the courage and Tony was sure that would change. 

Bucky and Steve fell into teamwork mode and Tony had long ago given up on trying to help when they were in their Howling Commando zone; so Tony found a corner and lowered himself down into the mess of hay piled on the bottom of the wagon. He propped his back against a bale and folded his arms to try to warm himself while his boyfriends finished helping everyone load up. 

The little girl who had giggled at him earlier came back over and stared at him, eyes wide, her mitten over her mouth. 

“Uh. Hi,” he said. Should he ask her if she wanted an autograph? Were toddlers old enough to know who Iron Man was? 

The toddler’s big sister came over and took her hand shyly. “Her name is Skye,” she said. 

“And you are?” Tony asked.

“Olivia.” 

“Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for a tiny shake. “My name’s Tony.” 

“Are you cold?” Olivia asked, blurting it as though she'd been waiting to ask the question for ages and couldn't hold back any more.

“That would be a most definite yes,” Tony answered. It was nightfall and winter and they were wandering around in the middle of nowhere without heaters of any kind. The Iron Man suit had built-in temperature controls. Maybe he should have worn it—even if Steve and Bucky wouldn't let him use it to cut their tree. “Aren’t you?” 

Olivia dimpled and shook her head. Then her parents called and she wrestled Skye back over to their family, snuggling in next to their mom and whispering to her. They looked back over at Tony and he waved, giving them one of his patented, charming Stark Smiles. 

Bucky flopped in beside Tony, grinning. He tucked the saw safely under a bale and wrapped his arms around Tony, nuzzling his cheek with his cold nose. Tony made an unhappy noise, but Steve slid in on his other side and blocked Tony before he could scoot away. Tony sighed and grumped a little—but he had to admit it was nice to be squished between them. 

The tractor rumbled to life and the hay wagon jostled and swayed as they trundled with exaggerated care over ruts and bumps and dips. The hay warmed quickly and it smelled fresh and dry and—and outdoorsy in a way Tony wasn’t entirely familiar with. It was different, but he thought it was probably good. Probably. 

It was still too quiet. 

Everyone’s breath steamed and the children chattered at each other as the wagon came to a rocking halt near the rows of trees marked for cutting. Strands of white lights had been strung up and down the length of the rows, brightly illuminating the trees and their tags. 

Bucky put an arm around Tony’s waist and hauled him to his feet before he could even think about complaining about his old knees. Bucky fished out the saw and they climbed down together while Steve helped again with the kids, who yelled and leapt from the hay bales trusting Captain America would catch them (and of course he did). 

“So how does this work?” Tony asked, stamping his feet against the frozen, hard-packed ground, trying to get his circulation going. He watched the other families out of the corner of his eye, and none of them were waiting around now. Kids were rushing between trees and up and down rows, trying to find the biggest and the best tree before anyone else did. It was a veritable free for all. Presumably there was a method to the madness, but Tony had no idea what it was.  

“I mean,” Bucky shrugged, “you gotta look at ‘em and see which one _speaks_ to you, you know? It’s no different than lookin’ for a car or something. The one that’s supposed to be yours will tell you.”

Tony made a noise at the back of his throat. He could understand that concept as a hypothetical. He certainly understood what it felt like to see something and want it instantly (Bucky and Steve both sprang to mind). Whether or not he could put the concept into practice to pick out a _tree_ was another story altogether. 

Still, he'd try. 

He started down a row, looking over each tree, trying to calculate differences and discern flaws. Presumably they wanted a tall one with nice branches. When Tony was a kid, Jarvis had always brought home one that was perfectly shaped—no bulges or bare spots. So Tony knew to look for that much, at least. Or at least the closest facsimile thereof. None of these trees were quite as perfect a the ones Tony remembered Jarvis bringing home; but maybe that was nostalgia playing tricks on him. 

The more Tony looked, the more overwhelmed he became. Christmas had never meant the same thing to him as it had to other people. It wasn’t about family—especially since, more often than not, his parents had vacationed without him during the holidays when he was growing up. It was about presents and other people being happy in a way he may have wanted, but couldn’t quite grasp. The whole “magic” of the holiday was elusive. It didn’t belong to him, and here in a moment Steve and Bucky were going to find out how spectacularly unqualified he was to make this decision. 

It didn't help that his hands were burning from the cold and his ears had gone numb. He was pretty sure his breath was frosting on his beard. None of this was familiar or comfortable in the slightest and he couldn't understand why Bucky and Steve had insisted this would be fun.

And, yeah, objectively Tony knew this was nothing to have a panic attack over. It was just a Christmas tree; but he wanted to do this right _._ He wanted to pick the right one. If they'd just let him throw some money at someone who had more Christmas cheer than he did, everything would have been fine. 

Steve caught up to them halfway down the first row and gave them both breathless kisses. He was flushed and smiling and obviously enjoying himself. 

Well, at least someone was. 

“Crowd couldn’t get enough of the Captain?” Bucky teased, tugging Steve into a one-armed hug. “I told you they’d recognize us.” 

“It’ll be fine,” Steve said, kissing Bucky again on the temple. “Have you found anything yet?” 

Tony snorted, breath coming out in a frustrated puff. “Bucky says we’re looking for a talking tree.” 

“That's _not_ what I said.” 

“But it is.” 

Steve shook his head fondly. “Well, have you _found_  any talking trees?” he asked.

Tony was about to point out they weren't in the mystical forests of Asgard, when the pine tree nearest to him had the audacity to giggle and speak up. “Mr. Tony?”

Tony’s mouth dropped open and he took a step back, eyebrows flying to his hairline.

The two little girls came pushing through the branches, coming from the row adjacent where their family was perusing trees. The girls’ cheeks were flushed from the cold and Skye was hiccuping over her belly laughs because teasing “Mr. Tony” was apparently the most fun she’d had all day.  

“Mr. Tony?” Olivia repeated, smile shy but bright, “I told my mom and dad you were cold and my dad said he didn’t need this.” Olivia handed her sister a knitted red hat and urged her sister forward. Skye held it up for Tony, stretching on her tiptoes, and Tony took it, bewildered. It had a huge pom-pom on the end and it was warm and soft and it covered his ears perfectly. 

For the first time that night Tony felt warm. His heart melted. Just a little. More like _softened_ , really. But still. 

He knelt down and said, “Will you two tell your dad thank you for me?” 

Skye reached up and grabbed Tony’s face, yanking on his beard, and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. Olivia hid her laughs behind a mittened hand and promised Tony they would. They raced back to the next row of trees, shrieking and ecstatic over their successful mission. 

Tony chanced a look up at his boyfriends.

“That was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Bucky said, surprisingly soft and warm. He looked at Steve, who quirked an eyebrow in response. 

Steve tugged Tony to his feet and adjusted the hat, making sure it was covering Tony’s ears all the way. Then he pulled Tony in for a kiss, bringing their mouths together softly, sweetly. “ _You’re_ the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” 

Tony wasn’t blushing. He _wasn’t._ (But okay, maybe his heart had melted more than a little.)

“Hey,” Bucky said, “I’m standin’ right here, Stevie.” 

“You’re not cute, Buck,” Steve said. “You’re terrifyingly handsome.” 

Bucky snorted and considered that. “Fine,” he said. “But I could be cute if I wanted to be.”

Steve rolled his eyes and sighed. 

“Anyway,” Tony said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I think we found our tree.”

The pine tree the girls had hidden behind wasn’t perfect by any means. It was shorter than its neighbors and its trunk was a bit crooked and there were uneven branches, but Tony was already brainstorming ways to disguise those flaws. A hydraulic-lift base could make the tree as tall as they wanted, and he could probably get JARVIS to manufacture gold replacement limbs for any bare spots. Otherwise, a little trimming and decoration would take care of the worst of it. If all else failed, Tony could get DUM-E shipped out to the mansion and they’d put a star on top of him for Christmas. 

“Yeah, I think it’s a good one,” Steve agreed, a little smile at the corners of his mouth. He hugged Tony’s shoulders. 

Bucky shrugged and got onto his hands and knees, crawling under the lowest branches and sawing at the trunk. With a metal arm and super soldier strength, it didn’t take much before the tree tilted and came down. Together they dragged it back to the wagon and loaded it up alongside the trees the other families had selected. 

It was strange, but Tony had a thrill of concern leaving _their tree_ alone on the second wagon. He insisted they sit close to the back of the hay wagon so he could keep an eye on their tree, making sure nothing happened to it on their way back to the barn. 

Nothing did, of course, and after another bumpy ride huddled together, they offloaded. Steve herded Tony into a small, brightly-lit room attached to the side of the barn where a cashier was waiting to collect their payment. Music was playing softly from an old stereo and a wood-burning stove blazed in the corner. The room was boiling hot, but after the bitter cold outside, the heat was pure luxury. The room smelled of freshly-popped popcorn and hot cocoa (and a bit of hay and wood and the heated iron of the stove). Sleeves of popcorn and small paper cups of cocoa were set out on a table and going for a dollar each. Steve paid for the tree and Tony paid for enough snacks to cover all of the farm’s customers for the rest of the night (and then some). 

Tony huddled next to Steve beside a window, cheeks flushed as he warmed, inside and out, as he sipped at the steaming cocoa (it wasn’t coffee, but Tony’d make do). Steve dug into the buttery, salty bag of popcorn and pointed out Bucky ushering their tree through a bizarre process outside. Steve explained each step as they went. First the tree was inserted into a machine to shake out loose needles. A worker then trimmed the base to make sure it was level and smooth and they bored a hole for their tree stand. Last of all, they ran the tree through a machine that stretched netting over its branches to make it compact and contained for transport. 

And… that was it. The tree was theirs to take home. 

Or it would have been, except Olivia and Skye's parents approached them to say hello and thank them for the free popcorn and hot chocolate, which the girls were enjoying with gusto. Olivia was carefully carrying a cup of cocoa in both hands and Skye was grabbing handfuls and spilling most of her popcorn on the floor. She spotted Tony wearing the red hat and she started laughing all over again, like that was the best thing she'd ever seen, her eyes bright and pleased. That happy shrill seemed to break some unspoken spell and Tony found himself laughing along with her. The reserved crowd relaxed, too, and people finally worked up the courage to approach them and ask for pictures. So they whiled away some extra time—Tony working the crowd like he was at a high society gala and Steve chatting with parents and taking selfies with kids. Bucky came inside to grab some snacks and, with some coaxing and praise from Tony, he ended up showing off his metal arm. Tony surreptitiously gathered intel so he could have something done about that tractor, too.

Tony attempted to return the hat the little girls had given him, but the girls’ parents insisted it was his. So when the tree was finally loaded and it came time to leave, he wore it all the way home. 

 

+

 

Snow swirled through the night as they took the long drive home and Tony dozed in the back seat with his head on Bucky’s shoulder. When they pulled past the gate and into the driveway at the mansion, Bucky handed him off to Steve and Tony didn’t remember much after that—warm hands peeling him out of his clothes and putting him in something soft. The cushions of the couch and a thick blanket on top of him. 

Tony only properly woke up when Steve gently shook his shoulder and Bucky kissed his forehead. At their continued insistence, Tony rubbed an eye and sat up groggily, batting them away.

Snow was falling thick outside now, piling high on the window sill. There was a fire crackling in the hearth and the Christmas tree was all set up in a stand beside it. There were no decorations yet, and Tony would still need to make his upgrades, of course; but—

Wait. Actually the tree wasn’t bare. 

Tony blinked the sleep from his eyes again.

Bucky and Steve had placed the red hat at the very top of the tree like a star. 

“What do you think?” Bucky asked, smirking. “We’ll have the cutest Christmas tree for miles.” 

Tony would normally have a snarky reply, but right now he was too warm and content to disagree. “You know what?” he said. “I think we will.” 

 Steve and Bucky grinned. 

"Now you both better come here and cuddle me." Tony wasn't cold at all anymore, but they didn't have to know that. 

Steve lowered the lights so the room was bathed in the flickering glow of the fire and they settled in on either side of Tony, Bucky arranging the blankets over them comfortably.

“Merry Christmas, Tony,” Steve said. 

“Merry Christmas,” Bucky agreed and they each kissed him on the cheek. 

All right. So Tony would have to grudgingly admit getting their own tree had been a pretty good idea. 

Next year, though, he was going to wear his Iron Man suit out to the farm. And he was going to get a Santa beard and wear that red hat and bring presents for all the kids.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you cut your own tree at Christmas (or get one off a lot), check with your local parks and rec department after the holiday season. Many will have a tree recycling program in place so your trees don't go to waste. Old Christmas trees will be chipped and used for mulch or to line paths in your local parks :) 
> 
> The tree farm described here is based off of one my family and I used to go to when I was a kid :3


End file.
